nina mcbride was chief of staff to laura bush and also worked for presidents reagan and george h.w. bush. gary walters worked as chief usher from 1986, but he came during betty ford's time as first lady. he worked in to the bush administration, the chief of staff with michele obama and can speak to us about the west wing and the east wing. and the carter administration has achieved -- and the curator at the white house. a position that came about as jackie kennedy did. as a way of introducing you to our panelists and what kind of operation to all of it and how the ladies get involved because it's a big event and one that involves everybody. so gary, can you start us off? because chief usher, you handle the resident staff and you can begin it. >> be glad to. the first notice of a state dinner, the state visit comes from the state department. it usually goes through the social secretary of the white house and soon after the social expects -- secretaries had dinner with the first ladies to get direction, the social secretary would come to the chief usher and lay out the who, when, wher